Which to use
“imparfait” is an adjective and “importait” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,316
- “imparfait” frequency rank
- #27,842
- “importait” frequency rank
- 47158
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | imparfait | importait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’est pas parfait. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de importer. |
Where the eye mixes imparfait and importait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. imparfait and importait follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between imparfait and importait
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: imparfait is \ɛ̃.paʁ.fɛ\ while importait is \ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47158, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
imparfait is recorded at frequency rank #19,316, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.paʁ.fɛ\. importait is at rank #27,842, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɛ\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 47158, this pair ranks #189,113 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of imparfait vs importait
Shared letters: aimprt. Private to "imparfait": f. Private to "importait": o.
"imparfait" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC · "importait" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "imparfait" and "importait" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "imparfait" or "importait" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "imparfait" and "importait" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "imparfait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "importait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #189,113 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "imparfait" and "importait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "importait vs importent". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #189,113 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.